History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.134

v5.c72.134

The smṛtis and purāṇas (like Kūrma, uttarārdha 23. 70) prescribe that after offering with joined hands water to the deceased a ball of rice or barley flour with sesame was to be presented on darbha grass There are two views on this point. According to Yāj. III. 16 a *piṇḍa* was to be offered for three days after death according to the procedure prescribed for Piṇḍa-pitṛ-yajña (such as wearing of the sacred thread on the right shoulder and under the left shoulder), while according to Viṣṇu 19. 13 one *piṇḍa* was to be offered every day as long as impurity on death lasted The piṇḍa was to be offered on darbhas spread on the ground if the deceased had his upanayana performed, but without mantras or may be offered on a stone ⁵¹⁴ While water could be offered by any and every sapiṇḍa, piṇḍa was to be offered only by the son (and when there were many sons, by the eldest if free from defect); in default of a son the nearest sapiṇḍa like a brother or brother's son was to offer it and in default of such then the sapiṇḍas of the mother (maternal uncle, his son or the like) could⁵¹⁵ offer it. Even when piṇḍas were to be offered for three days or āśauca lasted only for 3 days the piṇḍas were prescribed to be ten by Śātātapa and Pāraskara distributed them as follows: three on the first day, four on the 2nd and 3 on the third and Dakṣa⁵¹⁶ distributed them as follows: one on the first day, four on the 2nd and five on the 3rd Pāraskara prescribed that 10, 12, 15, 30 piṇḍas were to be offered according to the varṇa of the deceased. In the case cited above from A. I. R. 1945 Patna p 211 at p 219 it has been stated that according to the Benares school 4, 5 or 6 piṇḍas are offered at the time of cremation, while according to the Mithilā school only one piṇḍa is offered. Everybody, whether a person of the same gotra as the deceased or of another gotra, had to carry out all the rites up to the tenth day when he once began them on the day of death, as stated by the Gṛhya-pariśiṣṭa⁵¹⁷ and Garuḍapurāṇa. It is further prescribed that when the funeral rites are begun by a person and then a nearer relative such as a son comes, even then the former is to carry on all the rites up to the 10th day, but the rites of the 11th and later days are to be performed by the son and in default of him by a near sapiṇḍa. The Matsyapurāṇa states⁵¹⁸ that piṇḍas should be offered to the deceased for twelve days; they become his food on his journey (to the other world) and they give him satisfaction; since the deceased is taken to the abode of departed spirits after twelve days, he (his spirit) sees his house, sons and wife for twelve days Ṛṣyaśṛṅga quoted by Aparārka (p. 889) specifies the limbs of an ethereal body with which the deceased is endowed on each day of the ten days after death when a piṇḍa is offered The Garuḍapurāṇa (pretakhaṇḍa chap. 5. 33-36) says the same.